• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.71-91
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• 2011

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the environmental performance of 29 Chinese provinces by adopting the advanced measurements, integrated pollution intensity index, IPI, which can be computed using Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) techniques. This index has the advantage of accounting for multiple resources used, good outputs produced and pollutants emitted simultaneously. The result obtained using the methodology shows the obvious evidence that provinces located around eastern area of China take relatively low levels and these phenomenons have been clearly observed throughout the sample period 1998~2007. The estimated index can be interpreted that the environmental burden in China has been steadily decreased as economic growth. This paper also tries to figure out the relationship among IPI, income levels, economic structures, the level of environmental regulations and FDI inflow. The estimated relationship between IPI and income per capita predicts improving environmental performance with increasing income levels. This explains the improvement in IPI which is simultaneously observed with income increases. According to the 'pollution haven hypothesis', many researches have been concerned the possibility that a large amount of foreign capital has been invested in China to avoid the strict environmental standards in advanced countries. However, the estimated coefficients in all model specifications take negative sign with IPI and highly statistical significant. This is a indication that there are positive impacts of foreign investments on IPI by adopting clean and high technologies from advanced countries.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.271-299
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• 2012

The relationship between environment and economic growth has been controversial for a long time. The cores of controversy are endogeneity problem and omitted variable bias. This paper tests EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curves) hypothesis by considering econometric issues and estimates the effects of energy mix on $CO_2$ emissions empirically and tests with time series during 1981~2008. By the results of this analysis, we convince EKC Hypothesis which the relationship between $CO_2$ emissions and economic growth is the inverted U-shaped and the national energy mix contributes significantly to GHG mitigation. We also find that the nuclear energy has the greatest contribution for $CO_2$ mitigation and the renewable energy does not seem to contribute little to the $CO_2$ mitigation because the proportion of renewable energy in Korea is negligible. In terms of final energy consumption, $CO_2$ increases and transportation sector is statistically and significantly associated.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.269-286
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• 2009

The aim of the paper is to study environmental impacts of openness and trade in korea, and analyze the relationships between trade, development and environment. This study established endogenous determinants such as inflow FDI, level of environmental pollution and economic growth, and assumed a proposition that each individual variables are in two-way relationships among the three key variables such as the openness, the environment and GDP. To estimate a system of equations, a simultaneous equation model is used because the simultaneity problems are formidable. The results show that the more openness and economic growth increase, the more level of environmental quality improve. This study also found that FDI and openness, and economic growth bring along the level of environmental quality.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.241-261
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• 2024

This study analyzes the determinants of greenhouse gas emissions using data from 16 metropolitan municipalities in South Korea. The STIRPAT model, which probabilistically models environmental impacts, was employed for the analysis. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous panel analyses were utilized. Recognizing that results from homogeneous panel analysis could be distorted due to the characteristics of panel data, cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity tests were conducted. The tests indicated that it is appropriate to use estimates that consider cross-sectional dependence and reflect slope heterogeneity. Therefore, the results from heterogeneous panel analysis were presented as the main findings. The analysis identified income (per capita GRDP) and energy efficiency (energy intensity) as key determinants of greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, population was found not to be a key factor, and the industrial structure of the regions (share of the service industry in value-added) was also identified as a potential determinant of greenhouse gas emissions. The hypothesis of the Environmental Kuznets Curve was not statistically significant, suggesting that improving energy efficiency, rather than income growth and economic development, would be the most effective policy tool for reducing greenhouse gases in each municipality.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.305-318
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• 2023

Purpose - This study analyzed the decoupling phenomenon between energy consumption and economic growth in Korea from 1990 to 2021. The main purpose of this study is to suggest policy implications for achieving a low-carbon society and decoupling that Korea must move forward in the face of the climate change crisis. Design/methodology/approach - This study investigated the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth by energy source and sector using the energy-EKC (EEKC) hypothesis which included the energy consumption on the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), and the impulse response function (IRF) model based on Bayesian vector auto-regression (BVAR). Findings - During the analysis period, the trend of decoupling of energy consumption and economic growth in Korea is confirmed starting from 1996. However, the decoupling tendency appeared differently depending on the differences in energy consumption by sources and fields. The results of the IRF model using data on energy consumption by source showed that the impact of GDP and renewable energy consumption resulted in an increase in energy consumption of bio and waste, but a decrease in energy consumption by sources, and the impact of trade dependence was found to increase the consumption of petroleum products. Research implications or Originality - According to the main results, efficient distribution by existing energy source is required through expansion of development of not only renewable energy but also alternative energy. Additionally, in order to increase the effectiveness of existing energy policies to achieve carbon neutrality, more detailed strategies by source and sector of energy consumption are needed.